Americans for Safe Access Launch “Air Shred For ASA” Challenge Calling for Cannabis Brands to Participate
All Photos Courtesy of Piper Lindeen
Nearly one month ago, President Biden delivered the announcement that he would be pardoning those who had been charged with federal non-violent cannabis possession crimes. Although many praised the news at first, it soon became evident that not a single person would be freed from a prison sentence. At this realization, many professionals in the cannabis industry made public calls for action, to push politicians further in the direction of expungement, legislative change, and the re-scheduling or de-scheduling of cannabis as a drug.
One organization, Americans for Safe Access (ASA), was thrilled to hear so many voices calling for legislative change. But one thing struck a chord with Debbie Churgai, Executive Director of Americans for Safe Access, who spelled it out like this.
“We’ve been fighting for medical access for years at the legislative level. We’ve seen our hard work and persistence pay off little by little. During Covid, ASA sent letters to every governor in the U.S. to keep cannabis essential - and they did! It was a huge moment of celebration for us, and a milestone that we knew could influence change,” she explained. “But doing this work takes funding, and we are a non-profit organization. We’ve seen all the major brands speak out about the need for pressure, but out of the donations we’ve received - nearly all of them have come from patients, advocates, and volunteers. To date this year, we have only received a handful of corporate donations.”
Maybe the more shocking revelation is that an ASA corporate sponsorship starts at only $1,000 a year, or $100 a month. With United States cannabis retail sales projected to reach $33 billion by the end of 2022, and an illicit market estimated to be worth nearly $47 billion, a $1,000 corporate sponsorship seems like an affordable way to support legislative change and the fight for medical access. In the same breath, it’s well understood that cannabis brands face high costs to merely become licensed, let alone fully operate in the green. Still, with many organizations having a charitable element to their brand values, ASA hopes their new awareness campaign will encourage brands to sponsor - even at the base level.
The Air Shred for ASA Challenge models after the ALS ice bucket challenge, but thankfully you won’t have to be doused in freezing water to participate. The challenge calls for donations starting at $10 for individuals and $500 (or a match-donation pledge) from cannabis businesses. To take part in the challenge, participants are asked to post a video of themselves “air shredding” in whatever creative way they come up with. Some choose to air shred their invisible guitars to music, others shred paper with stigmatized messages on them, while some shred cheese - because why not? There’s no limit to the creative application of the term shred. Then, share the video through social media, tagging #ASAChallenge and #AirShredforASA, before nominating several friends or colleagues to join in the challenge.
Piper Lindeen, the Corporate Development Manager for ASA, and creator of the Air Shred for ASA Challenge, has even closer ties to the desire for federal medical legalization. Her son, who is now a pre-teen, was diagnosed with LGS or Lennox Gastaut Syndrome, which is a type of epilepsy disorder that causes different types of seizures, particularly tonic (stiffening) and atonic (drop) seizures. She’s been treating him with cannabis from the illicit market since 2013 because that was the only way to get access.
Because of this, she got involved with Texas Advocacy in 2014. When the University of Maryland launched its Medical Cannabis Science and Therapeutics Program (MCST), she applied and was accepted into the program, where she was a part of the second graduating class. She joined ASA to help with corporate partners and fundraising efforts just a few months ago, furthering her dedication to the fight for medical access for patients. She created the ASA Air Shred Challenge to spread awareness that ASA drastically needs financial support and to help bring the focus back to the patient.
“We hope that with the recent statements from Biden, the signals from the political climate, and the political momentum that's been building, we can gain some critical mass behind the ASA Air Shred Challenge.” Lindeen stated “It’s a donor, membership, and awareness campaign, and we appreciate any way that people can participate, because, at the end of the day, it impacts the patient the most.”
When asked about the push for medical versus recreational, Lindeen explained, “We need medical to be legalized first because our loved ones’ lives are on the line. Some people with serious medical conditions rely on medical cannabis access to reduce the extremely painful and disruptive symptoms they experience. Whether you’re in the industry, a patient, a recreational consumer, or otherwise, we hope people see the drastic need for medical cannabis access to be legalized.”
Churgai chimed in: “We know the potential for federal medical legalization far exceeds the potential for recreational. So many patients are not allowed access to cannabis or don’t feel comfortable utilizing cannabis because it’s federally illegal. Once it’s federally legal, so many more people will gain access, like the elderly, federal workers, and veterans. It’s our top priority because it needs to be.”
Americans for Safe Access was founded in 2002 as a vehicle for patients to advocate for the acceptance of cannabis as medicine. According to their website, their work aims to “overcome political, social, and legal barriers by creating policies that improve access to medical cannabis for patients and researchers through legislation, education, litigation, research, grassroots empowerment, advocacy and services for patients, governments, medical professionals, and medical cannabis providers.”
Orange Photonics, Inc. supporting the #ASAChallenge
Aside from their daily work on policy and legislation behind the scenes, they host an annual national conference called the National Medical Cannabis Unity Conference. This event is intended to bring patients, policy and public health professionals, industry associations, and cannabis supporters together to hear from experts around the country talk about issues that matter to patients, advocate together, and train for a “lobby day” where 200 to 500 people will participate (depending on funding) in advocating for medical access face-to-face with legislators. The ASA Challenge is one piece of many efforts to bring about legislative change.
“We’re hoping the ASA Air Shred Challenge will really spread to bring greater awareness toward medical cannabis advocacy and the patient experience,” Churgai said “We are the only national non-profit advocacy group whose main focus is about the access of cannabis for therapeutic use and research - if we aren’t around, who is there to represent patient needs?”
You can see Piper Lindeen and her family’s video for the #ASAAirshredChallenge here. You can also see other videos on LinkedIn to support the ASA challenge below:
Well that was more fun than I imagined! - Codi Peterson
If you are reading this, consider yourself challenged! - Debbie Churgai
To participate in the Air Shred for ASA Challenge, go to www.safeaccessnow.org/asachallenge to read the rules, donate, or become a participating member of Americans for Safe Access.